Greg cleaning up with inventor role

The American comedian said at the film's press conference at the Toronto International Film Festival: "Yeah, I've played a few real-life characters. You obviously take what you can find in the story.

"This wasn't like playing Nixon in the sense that everybody has pre-conceived ideas about the man who invented the intermittent windscreen wiper.

"So, in that sense, it was a pretty open door but I did feel a real obligation obviously to try and get as much of the spirit of the guy as I could, and his tenacity in some of those shortcomings were laid out so nicely in the script."

The 45-year-old wasn't able to speak to the man himself about the project, but was lucky enough to be in touch with his family.

"By the time I got involved with this project, Bob Kearns had passed away, but literally, the year before, Marc (Abrahams, director) had spoken to him quite a few times and his family were available to us - I spoke to all his children," Greg added.